Guide for picture-trimming.



No. 662,982. Patented Dec. 4, I900. P. E. STEVENS.

(Application filed Mar. 13, 1900.)

(No Model.)

M dqyf 'ybenz Blevems. (2 251mm m: "cams PETERS co. FHOTO-LITHO.. wAsmNuTou. n. c.

UNrrED ST TES PATENT OFFIcE.

PERLEY EGBERT STEVENS, OF ST. PAUL, ,M INNESOTA.

GUIDE FOR PIGTURE-TRIMIVIING.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 662,982, dated December 4, 1900.

Application filed March 13,1900. Serial No. 8,476. (No model.)

To rd], whom, it may concern:

Be it known that I, PERLEY EGBERT STE- VENS, a citizen of the United States, residing at St. Paul, in the county of Ramsey and State of Minnesota, haveinvented anew and useful Improvement in Guides for Picture-Trimming; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the same.

Thisinvention relates to that class of guides which are designed to assist the operator in properly adjusting pictured surfaces, such as photographs, upon a trimming-table in the desired relation to the cutting-line of the trimmer. Since the advent of snap-shot photography the difficulty is very generally experienced of so holding the camera when taking a picture that the picture will be located ver tically upon the negative. It is therefore the usual practice to true up the picture after it has been printed on paper by trimming the sides of the paper parallel with lines which should be vertical on the picture or as nearly so as can be judged by the eye.

The object of this invention is to aid the op erator to judge more accurately and quickly when he has so adjusted apicture on the trimming-table that certain lines, usually the ve r-,

To this end my invention consists in a guide to adjusting pictures for trimming constructed and arranged as hereinafter more fully described, and particularly pointed out in the claims, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, in which- Figure I is a plan view of a photographshearing table, showing myinvention in service. Fig. II is an end view of the same in position to receive work.- Fig. III is a plan view of my invention in connection with a table adapted for holding pictures to be trimmed with a knife or a pair of scissors.

5 represents the stationary blade of a shear fixed to the table 6.

ledge at the rear edge of the table at right an- .gles with the shear-blade.

12 represents the guide which is the subject of this invention. It comprises a sheet of transparent mate rialsuch as celluloid,glass, mica, tracing-linen, tracing-paper, Wire-netting, a Wooden frame, or other open-Work, celluloid being at present preferredhaving upon it either vertical lines 14 15 16, &c., or horizontal lines 17 18 19, &c., or both, and arranged to be held When in service so that one set of these lines is parallel with the edge of the blade 5 or with the corresponding guide to any cutter. To so hold it, Iprefer to fasten its rear edge under the usual rule 10, and in this connection I also prefer to provide an under rule 13, of thin material, such as pasteboard, located beneath the guide-sheet 12 and fixed to exactly coincide with the front edge of the rule 10.

In operation a photograph or other picture or print 20 to be trimmed is to be placed upon the table 6 under the guide 12. Now by looking through the guide upon the photograph the line of the horizon 21 on the photograph will be seen to be out of parallel with the edges 22 of the paper 20; but it is very easy to turn the paper by its projecting corner 23 or by placing the fingers under the near edge of the guide 12, raised to bring the horizon to coincide with some line on the adjusterguide-line 18, for example. Then a cut of the shears will square one edge with the horizon. This overcomes the principal difficulty,

for after one correct cut is made it is easy to place that edge as usual against the top rule 10 or the under rule 13 as a guide and square up the other edges one after another.

Instead of using the horizon for comparing with the guide the lighthouse 24 in the distance might have been compared with the nearest vertical line 15 of the guide in locating the paper for the first cut. photographs there are buildings whose vertical lines may be used for comparison with the vertical lines of the guide.

To extend the utility of this guide, I prefer to make its surface sulficiently rough to take a pencil-mark and yet leave it sufliciently transparent to permit a picture to be seen through it if placed against it. By pencil dots or lines made by the operator on the In very many alike.

guide over certain easily-remembered points on a photograph he may quickly locate under those marks any number of photographs, one

after another, from the same negative, so that they will be trimmed for mounting exactly This principle may be readily adapted for use in personal or figure photography, as well as in views of buildings and landscapes. It is not necessary to this inventionth at the guide-sheet should be permanently fixed to the shear-table. It is only necessary that some means be provided for locating the guide while it is in service in a fixed relation to the trimmer-guide, so that the lines or markings upon the adjuster-guide may be relied upon for the service above described and for analogous services that will naturally be suggested to difierent operators. One modification showing such means forlocating the adjusterguide in a fixed relation to the trimmer is represented at 25, which indicates dowel-pins fixed in the table 6, the guide and rule having holes in them to register therewith. Another modification of such means is shown in the drawings by considering the line 26 to represent. an edge of the guide 12 and also the adjacent edge of the rule 10, fitted to register one with the other when the lines 14 l5 16 on the guide are parallel with the shearingline or the lines 17 18 19 are at right angles to the shearing-line. Should anything having the open-work character of wire-netting or a frame of cross-pieces be used as a guide, the side lines or edges of the wires or cross-pieces would serve the purpose of the guide-lines 14 15 16 17 and 18 19, &:c.

If the guide is made of material too stiff to bend readily, it may be hinged at 27 to swing up from the table. After the first edge of the photograph has been trimmed the paper may be placed on top of the celluloid sheet and be pressed against the rule 10 for trimming the otheredges, as the guide-sheet need not be located near enough to the shearing edge to interfere with accurate cutting when the top of the guide is used as a table.

The modification shown in Fig. III represents a table 28, made of sheet metalsuch located between the guide and the table, or the transparent guide 12 may be provided with a metallic guard 32 along its edge to serve as the guiding edge 31 to shear against in order to prevent injury to the guiding edge. When used with a knife, this table is to be placed upon a cutting-board to receive the knife-point, the knife being drawn along the edge 31.

It will be understood that either one or all of the edges of my transparent guide maybe marked as a scale with fractions of an inch or other unit of measurement, if so desired for any purpose. It will also be understood that a roller shear-blade might be mounted upon the table 6 to coact in the usual manner with the fixed blade 5 as a picture-trimmer, and that patterns of any desired form to out against may occupy the position of the guiding edge 31. My transparent guide may also be used to locate pictures upon a cuttingtable upon which a compass -blade or any similar device is used to do circular or curved trimming, the guide being raised out of the way after the picture is located and before the cut is made.

In the claims the word picture is intended to include any kind of prints or marks upon material which may be out into form by shears or a knife-blade, and the words sheet and transparent sheet are intended to include wire-cloth or a framed crosswork of any material which may be made thin enough to look through and compare its lines with a picture below. 7

Having thus fully described my invention, what I believe to be new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is the following:

1. In guides to adjusting pictures for trimming, a table to support the picture; means for trimming a picture on a line havinga fixed relation to the table; a transparent guide having lines or marks upon it by which to adjust the picture, and means for locating this adjusting-guide in a fixed relation to the trimming-line while the guide is in service, substantially as described.

2. In guides to adjusting pictures for trimming, a table having a raised ledge along one side; and a transparent sheet located upon the table and hinged at one edge to swing from the table; the said sheet having guidemarkings upon it and shaped at one edge as a trimming-cutter guide, substantially as described. I

3. In guides to adjusting pictures for trimming, a table; means for guiding a trimmingblade to cut on a line having a fixed relation to the table; 'a transparent sheet having guidemarkings upon it, and means for locating the sheet when in service, with its guide-lines in a fixed relation to the trimming-line, substantially as described.

4.. In guides to adjusting pictures. for trimming, a transparent sheet havingguide-lines upon it; a paper-trimming device, and means for locating the guide-sheet in a fixed relation to the cutting-guide of the trimming device, substantially as described.

In testimony whereof I affix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

PERLEY' EGBERT STEVENS.

\Vitnesses:

JAs. A. GREEK, LoUIs L. HAMMON. 

